Taking some time to be earnest
Community Values
Community is paramount to our goals and aspirations for this space. This means working with local artists to do our permeant art and setting up consignment for other artists to have a space with a lot of foot traffic to sell their work. And we mean EXCLUSIVELY real art. No AI. Hard stop. We are also partnering with some local restaurants and food trucks for vouchers, discounts, and even things as simple as just shouting each other out.
One of the most important aspects of community we want to focus on is being welcoming to people who traditionally haven’t been accepted into these spaces. Online, it feels like queerness, neurodiversity, being as a woman, or not being white doesn’t exclude you from nerd/geek/gaming spaces, but I think we all know the reality of that changes the second things go offline. Racism, sexism, ablism, and homophobia penetrate these hobbies so deeply, and that sucks. Our aim is to create a community that celebrates our hobbies no matter what we look like or identify as. As a part of this goal, we do not tolerate hate or bigotry. If you can’t handle that, get lost. If someone is making you feel uncomfortable or exhibiting problematic behavior, we’ll happily get them lost for you.
Why we do
We love games. There’s no point in beating around the bush, it’s the entire reason we exist. Whether it’s GMing a multi-year homebrew D&D campaign with enough lore to make Matt Mercer proud, or spending so much money on Magic packs we disappoint The Professor, we wanted to make a space for all the nerds, geeks, and gamers like us to feel at home and just have a space of their own.
Local game stores all have something cool and unique and good up their sleeves. Whether you find a place with great pricing, a community dedicated to your favorite game, or just with stellar vibes, you’ll go to the place that matches your sensibilities the most.
We looked at dozens of game stores we’ve been to across the country and distilled what we saw as the most important aspects of why people choose their own LGS, and focused holistically on delivering on each of those core tenants.
Our Core Values
Inclusive Environment
We are wholly committed to ensuring our staff and guests are treated with the respect they are due. This includes strict but simple rules for our space that do not tolerate discrimination and discourtesy under any circumstances. We will remove elements from our space that break these rules with extreme prejudice.
We also have tried to ensure that people are able to enjoy our space, no matter their needs. We have wheelchair accessible everything, including tables and sales counters. Our music is kept low and unobtrusive to avoid sensory overstimulation. We likewise take accessibility very seriously, and will comply to the best of our ability with any and all requests in that theater.
Community Focus
Our community is our strength, and we truly believe that with every fiber of our being. El Sereno is a beautiful vibrant place, and we are proud and ecstatic to be a part of that ecosystem. As part of that, we are partnered with local restaurants, local artists, and local stores to create a symbiotic harmonious existence with our fellow denizens of Los Angeles. Come in to check out our amazing murals, consignment artworks for sale, and references and vouchers for our neighbors’ incredible stuff!
In the theme of community, we are dedicated to provided a cool place that you can just come in to just chill, with absolutely no pressure of spending money. The term ‘third space’ gets bandied about a lot, and we’d like to do our best to create just that: a space where you can come in, hang out, and build community with us.
Attractive Setting
There’s nothing we hate to see more than a cool place with decent vibes that just gets undercut by being ugly or simply not tailored to the experience you expect and want to have. If an LGS is in what clearly used to be a clothing store, it’s distracting and can harsh the vibe. We are partnered with dozens of artists to make sure our space is full of life, full of joy, and full of real art.
Worse than bad aesthetics however, is filth. A poorly cleaned space is a space that nobody wants to be a part of. We have rigorous cleaning and sanitizing protocol, one that is maintained with zeal. You’d think we wouldn’t have to specify that we clean our store, but we’ve all been to a nasty game store, and that seems to be more the norm than the outlier.
Good Prices
This feels like one of those things that shouldn’t have to be said, but I’m sure we’re all familiar with stores, vendors, and companies that seem to have no problem marking up the prices of their goods and services just to make an extra buck. And in hobby spaces, this markup can quickly become egregious. This can have the downstream effect of gatekeeping amazing hobbies from new players and folks who don’t have as much disposable income. We hate that model and want no part in it.
We will strictly adhere to MSRPs when available. No overpricing in-demand products. We will also adhere strictly to trusted market prices for second-hand goods and single cards. If we can knock a few bucks off those prices as well, we’ll do it. The Tavern Games is dedicated to getting you the stuff you want at the best possible price.